Increased incidence of pancreatic neoplasia in pernicious anemia.

Abstract

AbstractIn a Swedish population, 361 patients with pernicious anemia were followed closely during a 7‐year period with regard to the occurrence of all forms of malignant neoplasia. In addition to an increased incidence of gastric neoplasia (0.6%/year), there seemed to be an increased incidence of pancreatic neoplasia (0.3%/year) in the series. With reference to age‐ and sex‐specific incidence rates in the general population, the number of malignant pancreatic tumors observed was significantly higher than expected (p<0.02, Poisson analysis). Pancreatic malignancy was the primary cause of death in 5 (4%) of 134 patients who died during follow‐up. Among 127 unselected patients with malignant pancreatic neoplasia, the prevalence of pernicious anemia was 3%. These findings indicate that there is a linkage between the two diseases which has not been previously recognized. Atrophic gastritis with hypergastrinemia may be the key to this linkage.